Aug 12, 2013

05:57 AM

Middletown Couple's "Ring Wrapper" Competing in WalMart Contest

by Kaitlyn Schroyer

Catherine Avalone

Middletown residents Karen Folcik, 26, a social worker and her husband Mike, 25, an electrical engineer are the inventors of Ring Wrapper, a protective covering to prevent your rings from falling off or getting damaged. Ring Wrapper is now in Round 2, the Audition Round of Walmart's Get On The Shelf. Get On The Shelf was launched in 2012 providing a place for inventors and entrepreneurs an opportunity to have their product carried by Walmart stores across the country.

MIDDLETOWN >> The idea came simply from her engagement ring dropping down a sewer drain in New York City. Now, Karen Folcik and her husband, Mike, are marketing “The Ring Wrapper” full time and competing in a Walmart competition.

It was the night Middletown resident Karen Folcik celebrated getting her master’s degree in social work. While hugging her friends goodbye and getting ready to leave, her hand suddenly felt empty. Her engagement ring, which had only been on her finger for a mere two weeks, was gone.

“We looked all over the ground and deduced that it must have gone down the sewer drain,” Karen Folcik said. “My husband and I were really scared that we had lost the ring.”

Luckily, a friend had the police department’s number on hand and a willing officer went down into the sewer and retrieved the ring, Karen Folcik said.

That night, Mike and Karen sat on a train back to Connecticut trying to figure out ways to make sure the terrible night didn’t happen again.

That was when the Ring Wrapper was born. A silicone ring protector that slides over a ring, Mike had found nothing like it on the market. Soon, the couple was manufacturing the ring protectors.

Today, they have sold thousands all over the world with fan bases not only in the United States, but the United Kingdom and beyond, the Folciks said.

“It’s for whenever you’re worried about your ring,” Karen Folcik said. “Whether you’re going to the gym or swimming or to the beach. It keeps sunblock from getting into the ring. You don’t have to worry about losing it.”

Buyers have remarked even more uses for the Ring Wrapper. Rings can scratch babies or the elderly and Ring Wrapper stops that from happening, Karen Folcik said. It also keeps dirt and lotions from getting into the crevices of rings and keeps the ring in place any time someone is doing something active, she said.